RANDOLPH – Almost three years after a 21-year-old Randolph man was shot to death, Norfolk County prosecutors are edging closer to separate trials of the four people charged with the first-degree murder that authorities say was linked to drug deal.

Trial dates aren’t set yet, but Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey said his prosecutors are figuring out which defendant to try first for the murder of Kyle McManus.

One of those defendants, Nathan Lugo of Brockton, was 17 years old at the time of the shooting in November 2011 and was indicted last week for a second time by a Norfolk County grand jury.

Morrissey said that Lugo had to be “re-indicted” because of new state and federal laws regulating how juveniles can be charged in first-degree murder cases.

“With an abundance of caution to move this along, we had to go back and re-indict,” said Morrissey. “When you charge a juvenile with murder, it’s very serious.”

Prosecutors have not specified which of the four defendants investigators believe pulled the trigger of a revolver and shot McManus in the chest during a drug transaction.

But an order for bail signed by a judge in Lugo's court file lists him as ‘‘alleged to have been shooter in murder case after refusing to pay for marijuana.’’ Bail orders for the other three defendants list them as ‘‘alleged joint venturers’’ in the drug deal that ended in murder.

The other defendants are Allison Deshowitz, of Stoughton, and Devante Thames and Brian Moulton, both of Brockton.

Prosecutors said at the defendants arraignment in 2011 that McManus had arranged to sell the four, but Deshowitz and the others planned to rob McManus, not pay for the drugs.

According to a police report, Thames told Randolph police detectives that he went into McManus’s house to measure the marijuana to be purchased. While inside, he was introduced to McManus' parents by his nickname, ‘‘Tunes.’’

After retrieving the marijuana from McManus’s bedroom, Thames told police he left the house with McManus and got into the back seat of a Jeep, driven by Lugo.

McManus handed the marijuana to Moulton, the front-seat passenger in the Jeep, Thames said.

Almost 20 minutes later, friends of McManus saw him on Wales Avenue, standing next to the passenger window of the Jeep. One friend told police he saw McManus speaking with a passenger of the Jeep and then shouting ‘‘help me’’ as the vehicle backed out, McManus holding on to the opened passenger window.

The friend said he then heard gunshots and saw McManus fall to the ground in the middle of Wales Avenue as the vehicle sped off. McManus was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton, where he died.

Page 2 of 2 - Chris Burrell may be reached at cburrell@ledger.com or follow on Twitter @Burrell_Ledger.